Sophomore Jake Lewing earned his first All-American award with a 15th place finish in the 200 IM on Wednesday.

A pair of top-eight performances in the men's 500 freestyle highlighted the first night of competition for the Denison men's swimming team from the 2009 NCAA Division III Championship in Minneapolis, Minn.  After five events Denison finds themselves locked in a tie for sixth place with MIT with 36 points.  Kenyon College leads with 154 points followed by Emory (101), St. Olaf (78), Grove City (48) and Wisconsin Stevens Point (38).

Denison's David Curtis (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) entered the first event of the meet as the defending national champion in the 500 free and wound up taking home third place after a time of 4:23.70.  His teammate, first-year Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron), logged his first All-America swim with an eighth place finish and a time of 4:30.91.

The win in the 500 free went to Alex Fraser of Amherst who shattered the national record by one second with his time of 4:21.95.

In the 50 freestyle Denison's John Geissinger (Darien, Conn./Lawrenceville School) rebounded after finishing one spot short of qualifying for the men's final in the morning preliminaries.  He placed second in the consolation heat with a time of 20.34.  In those preliminaries Kenyon freshman Zachary Turk posted a time of 19.86 to take the top spot heading into the final.  He followed that up with a 19.93 to win the 50 free national title.

Sophomore Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) notched his first All-America plaque as well after placing 15th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:52.38.  Nelson West of St. Olaf College was the winner in 1:48.82.

Wednesday's final event was the 200 medley relay.  Denison entered the event eighth after a time of 1:31.34 in preliminaries.  In the finals, the foursome of Robert Barry (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's), John Nemeth (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), Chris Bagley (W. Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) and Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) suffered a disqualification which cost the Big Red some valuable points in the overall championship.  Despite the DQ, there are still four relays and 16 events remaining in this four-day championship for the Big Red to gain ground on the leaders. 

Denison will return to the pool on Thursday for the 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free and the 400 medley relay.

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